Good Night, and Good Luck : A Review
"There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful. Stonewall Jackson, who knew something about the use of weapons, is reported to have said, 'When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.' The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival."
- Edward R Murrow


In his two most recent movies, George Clooney has ensured that cinema no longer remains a sword rusting in the scabbard during a battle. After watching both "Syriana" and "Good Night, and Good Luck", I've gained a tremendous respect for George Clooney. Clooney wrote the screenplay, directed and also acted in "Good Night, and Good Luck", one of the nominees for the year's best motion pictures at the Oscars.

Next the basics of the plot... "Good Night, and Good Luck" tackles the subject of Senator Joseph McCarthy's communist witchhunts and how a brave CBS television host Edward R Murrow takes on Senator McCarthy. As a former resident of Wisconsin, I'm apalled at the state's choice of a Senator in 1954. Russ Feingold, the current senator from Wisconsin and a UW-Madison grad, is making up for it in good measure nevertheless.

Could Clooney's father, himself a news-anchor, have influenced the choice of subject? I'd like to think so. The parallels to today's political scenario are very hard to miss. I am alluding to the Bush administration's wire-tapping program against suspected Al-Qaeda contacts and how the administration requires no warrants to snoop in on the phone-calls of any resident of America. This connection appears to be a result of happenstance rather than design. No matter how perspicacious Clooney is, he couldn't have divined the existence of a wire-tapping program a year before the matter was brought into the media spotlight.

One of the most brilliant cinematic techniques in the movie was to employ McCarthy to play the role of Senator McCarthy. Quoting IMDB

"Clooney had said that when the movie had undergone test screenings, audience members felt that the McCarthy character was overacting a bit, not realizing that it was the actual McCarthy through archive footage." :)

The decision to make the picture black & white may have been forced as a result of the use of archival McCarthy video. I am not always in agreement with the Academy's choices for the best movies of the year but this one does deserve each one of the 6 nominations. Clooney a la Superman... "Sexiest Man Alive" and a nominee for best director and best screenplay writer of the year and best actor in a supporting role for "Syriana". Membership to a very select club of movie-stars with a worthy message. Hats off!